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You may have seen celebrities touting the wonders of testosterone replacement therapy, saying that boosting testosterone levels makes men feel younger and stronger, and that it improves their sex lives.

This is all well and good, but testosterone replacement therapy

(TRD) Testosterone Replacement Therapy A Powerful Anti-Aging? Answer: As with all claims, don’t believe the hype.

“For some older men, raising low testosterone levels may improve some aspects of their physical and mental health, but testosterone replacement therapy does not turn back the clock,” says Brigham and Women’s Hospital urologist Dr. Michael O’Leary. with Harvard University. I came back suddenly.

Low testosterone levels

Testosterone is the sex hormone that gives men their masculine characteristics, this hormone is produced by the testicles and helps shape classic traits like voice depth, facial hair, muscle size and strength. It also boosts male libido.

Doctors define normal blood testosterone levels as 300 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) or higher. According to the American College of Physicians, a man’s testosterone levels decline about 1.6 percent per year starting in his mid-30s. About 20 percent of men age 60 and older have low testosterone levels, rising to 30 percent of men in their 70s and 50 percent of men in their 80s.

In addition to normal age-related decline, significant drops in testosterone can also occur as a result of medications (especially anabolic steroids) or damage to the testicles, injury, infection, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.

Getting an accurate reading may require multiple blood tests, especially since testosterone levels fluctuate throughout the day. Tests are often taken between 7am and 10am when testosterone is at its peak. Low doses may cause any of the following symptoms and conditions:

* Depression

Self-confidence will decrease

* Difficulty concentrating

* Sleep disturbances

* Decreased muscle and bone mass

* Increases body fat

* Fatigue

Swelling or sagging of the breast

* Feeling hot

* Sex drive will decrease

* Decreases the time of spontaneous erection

Difficulty maintaining an erection.

If your hormone levels are below 300 ng/dL, your doctor may recommend testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), Dr. O’Leary says. However, this doesn’t have to happen automatically; The first step is to determine if any symptoms attributed to low testosterone are related to something else that can be treated.

For example, symptoms such as feeling tired, difficulty concentrating and low sex drive can be caused by a poor diet, lack of exercise and insufficient sleep. Stress, anxiety, and depression can be side effects of erectile dysfunction. According to Dr. O’Leary, “raising low testosterone levels alone will not solve these problems.”

Testosterone replacement therapy

If troubling symptoms and low testosterone persist after investigating these possibilities, your doctor may recommend short-term testosterone replacement therapy. Treatment is usually given as a daily ointment or cream or a patch on the skin (usually on the shoulder or thigh, in easily accessible places). Testosterone therapy can be taken orally daily or injected weekly or fortnightly. Another option is pellets implanted in the buttocks, which slowly release testosterone over a period of a week. “One use has no advantage over the other, but injections may have a faster effect,” Dr O’Leary added.

After you’ve been on testosterone therapy for about two months, your doctor will evaluate your symptoms. If there is no significant improvement, the dose can be increased, the current dose can be continued for a while, or stopped.

In this regard, Dr. O’Leary advises, “Keep in mind that testosterone therapy may not work for everyone or may have minimal effect.”

Another aspect to consider is that if you have a good response, you may need to maintain testosterone therapy indefinitely to maintain the benefit. This is because your body stops producing its own testosterone while you are on treatment.

Testosterone therapy can cause short-term side effects such as acne, shortness of breath during sleep, swollen or droopy breasts, or swollen ankles. “However, for the majority of eligible men, the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy usually outweigh these potential risks,” says Dr. O’Leary.

However, there are concerns about long-term use of testosterone replacement therapy, and scientists are investigating whether it stimulates the growth of prostate cancer cells. Some research has indicated that it may increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease.

A more nuanced answer in this area may come from the recently completed TRAVERSE trial, which looked at the link between testosterone therapy and serious cardiovascular problems in more than 5,000 men over five years.

Results will be declared soon. For now, the evidence regarding these potential risks is still mixed. Therefore; The safest option is to avoid testosterone replacement therapy for men at risk of heart disease or men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

* Harvard Letter “Monitoring Men’s Health” – Services “Tribune Media”.